Page 3 of Wolf Promise

Her fingers still touched the man’s skin, and the tendrils of darkness oozed out again, wrapping themselves around the man’s neck.

Horrified, she snatched her hand back.

What kind of monster had she become?

Taking big gulping breaths of air, she separated herself from the weird darkness swelling inside her. The black tendrils she could see in her mind’s eye still danced, now weaving back and forth to her heart’s staccato beat.

She squatted down so she could reach the man’s phone under the car. The locked screen made her hesitate, but then she noticed the SOS icon. She pressed it.

A warm voice answered, “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

Regie wanted to scream about dark rage and black tendrils, but swallowed down her panic. “There’s an injured man in the cross-country trail parking lot next to the university campus,” she croaked out.

“What is your name?” the operator asked, but Regie had already removed the phone from her ear.

She wiped down the screen and the exterior with the man’s shirt, careful to keep the connection open.

The operator’s tinny voice kept repeating, “Ma’am? Ma’am?” as she placed the phone on the ground next to the man.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around the man. There were a few scuff marks in the gravel, but nothing that looked like proper footprints. She returned to her own car and picked up the dropped key fob. Once inside the car, the sound of the car door closing echoed in her ears. She pressed the start button with trembling fingers and resisted the temptation to look at the man as she exited the parking space.

Emergency vehicle sirens sounded in the distance.

Regie popped the gear in the drive and floored the gas pedal. Gravel shot out from underneath the tires as she hurried back to the main road, desperate to get home before the first responders reached the parking lot.

CHAPTER 2

Now.

Bolt Varg leaned back in the new clients’ conference room chair and tried to focus on the surrounding conversation. He'd just finished another case that required him to spend the last twenty-four hours on continuous surveillance. Going on thirty-six hours of no sleep, his brain didn’t fire as quickly as normally. He’d told his boss and alpha, Arek Varg, to choose someone else for this meeting, but Arek had insisted he’d come.

Swallowing a yawn, Bolt tried to keep his eyes from watering. It didn't help that their room had floor-to-ceiling windows and that it was a bright, sunny day. The view revealed a glorious clear blue sky stretching across downtown San Francisco and beyond. Inside the room, the sun had warmed the air to a temperature perfect for a nap.

At least, his inner wolf thought so.

The beast side of him had curled up for a snooze a long time ago.

Bolt blinked rapidly and then studied the people sitting across from him.

Tore Lansford, the third, and his granddaughter, Regina Lansford, showed Scandinavian heritage in their light-colored hair and pale skin. Age had bleached Tore's hair a greyish white. Regina's was still pale blonde, probably the color her grandfather's had been thirty years ago or so. They both had similar facial features, high cheekbones, narrow noses, and full lips, but Tore's eyes were dark brown while Regina's gaze, directed at Bolt’s boss, displayed a deep cobalt blue color.

Bolt saw flashes of anger and frustration in those beautiful eyes, but she betrayed none of those high emotions on her face. Instead, she looked focused as she listened to Arek list the facts of her situation and how their security firm, Heimdall Shield, planned to protect her.

With his blond hair and blue eyes, Arek looked as if he could be related to the Lansfords. But, considering he was over a hundred years old and a wolf shifter, as well, it wasn’t very likely. As usual, Bolt was the only dark-skinned and dark-haired person in the room.

The wolf shifters in his pack were mostly of northern European heritage. But even among the other North American packs that he’d met, there were no other brown or Black people. Well, his twin had the same complexion as him, but Arrow didn’t count. Not anymore. Not since he’d chosen betrayal over family. He forced himself to stop thinking about his brother. Going down that path led to nothing but hurt and heartache.

Focusing back on the meeting, he listened as Arek read aloud from the threats sent to Regina. His boss highlighted particularly nasty keywords that indicated the writer behind the many emails was the same person. Still, not a twitch could be seen on Regina’s face or detected in her posture, although her eyes sparked at a few of the nastier of the threats. But it looked more like anger than fear. The lady had a temper but knew how to keep it hidden. He liked that about her.

She’d make a formidable poker opponent. Maybe Bolt should invite her to play sometime. Although born into a world of immense wealth, she could afford much higher stakes than Bolt. Not that he was poor, he did alright. Wolf shifters lived a long time, and he'd early on invested his winnings from the fighting pits wisely and now collected significant dividends. He wasn’t yet in the billionaire league, like Arek, but he wasn’t far behind either.

His boss continued to read threats to the Ice Princess, which was what Bolt had decided to call Regina Lansford in his mind. Both because of her coloring and her regal posture. And because she was fucking beautiful in a cold, hands-off kind of way. She was like a piece of art. Something to be admired but not touched. At least not by the likes of him.

"I urge you to take this threat seriously, Ms. Lansford," Arek said. Outwardly, he looked calm and professional, but anyone who knew him could hear the frustration in his voice. The growl of his wolf bled through, deepening his voice.

Of course, the two human clients did not know Arek well, nor did they know he was a wolf shifter. The supernatural people tried not to freak out the regular humans. Shifters, witches, and other special-abilities folks kept their special abilities secret.

"I am taking it seriously," Regina answered, but from the repeated flash of frustration sparking in those startling blue eyes, Bolt knew she didn't.

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